Vegas Golden Knights on Twitter: “🚨 OFFICIAL 🚨 The Golden Knights have acquired Jack Eichel and a conditional pick from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, and two conditional picks. JACK EICHEL IS A GOLDEN KNIGHT!!! #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/T8hLG2BcZI / Twitter”
🚨 OFFICIAL 🚨 The Golden Knights have acquired Jack Eichel and a conditional pick from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, and two conditional picks. JACK EICHEL IS A GOLDEN KNIGHT!!! #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/T8hLG2BcZI
Details
Blockbuster trade between Buffalo and Las Vegas as the Golden Knights acquire former second overall pick Jack Eichel. I won’t go into to much detail as the saga has been going on for almost a whole year. Short story is Eichel got injured while in Buffalo. Jack wanted a specific “unproven” surgery. Sabres refused citing it was too much of a risk going forward and would void his contract if he went through with it. Arguing back and forth and we eventually get the point where he gets sent to the Vegas Golden Knights for essentially three first round players/picks.
Will it move the needle though? In my opinion one of the worst aspects of the Golden Knights over the past couple of seasons in their lack of a top end center. Acquiring Jack Eichel solves that, but I also think their window of a Stanley Cup is over. I imagine Eichel will keep the Golden Knights relevant for his entire career there. Las Vegas traded away the goaltender that was capable of bringing them a Stanley Cup. It’s hard to fault the Golden Knights as they have debatably had he best start to a franchise in the history of sports.
It will be exciting to see Jack Eichel on a team that is built for success instead of being stuck in the poverty franchise that is the Buffalo Sabres. It’ll also be interesting to see if later this season we’ll get a McDavid vs Eichel playoff matchup. However, are they even worth comparing at this point? They are only linked due to their draft year, they are astronomically far apart when it comes to talent on the ice.
It is worth noting that while Eichel will make the Golden Knights better, he will have to undergo surgery before getting back on the ice and is listed to be out 3-5 months.
At the end of the day, in my opinion this keeps the Golden Knights relevant, but it does not instantly make them a Stanley Cup contender as over the years they have created more holes than this solves.
